euractiv | EU, Ukraine sign 'strategic partnership' on raw materials, 13 July 2021

a view to develop an entire value chain of the extraction, refining and recycling of minerals in Ukraine to supply the EU market for electric cars and digital equipment [downstream].
[...]
The EU-Ukraine partnership on raw materials has a wider global significance. As Russia completes construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline to Germany, Kyiv is expected to lose out on gas transit revenues. And raw materials could provide a [untapped!] source of income for Ukraine.

1991-2022 balance of trade, because ...?

The Commission sees clear opportunities from forging closer ties with Ukraine. Europe is currently heavily dependent on imports of key raw materials, with China providing 98% of the EU's supply of rare earth elements, a key component for magnets used in electric car batteries, smartphones and wind turbines.
[...]
"There are 30 of them and 21 of these critical raw materials are in Ukraine, which is also extracting 117 out of 120 globally used minerals," [EC Vice-President Maroš] Šefčovič said. "We're talking about lithium, cobalt, manganese, rare earths - all of them are in Ukraine," he explained.

archived SIMILE SUICIDE and Europe COMISH 2019

On Tuesday, Kyiv will be invited to join the EU's industrial alliance on batteries as well as the bloc's alliance on critical raw materials launched in September. The alliance aims to strengthen the EU's "strategic autonomy" on raw materials by identifying obstacles, and investment opportunities at all stages of the mineral value supply chain - ranging from mining to processing and waste recovery - while trying to minimise the environmental and social impacts < wipes tears >, the Commission said.

What G7 really wants
WaPoo | In the Ukraine war, A BATTLE for the nation's mineral and energy wealth, 10 Aug 2022 maps

After nearly six months of fighting, Moscow's SLOPPY WAR has YIELDed at least one big reward: expanded control over some of the most mineral-rich lands in Europe. Ukraine harbors some of the world's largest reserves of titanium and iron ore, fields of UNTAPPED lithium and MASSIVE deposits of coal. Collectively, they are worth tens of TRILLIONS of dollars.

The lion's share of those COAL deposits, which for decades have powered Ukraine's critical steel industry, are concentrated in the east [Donbas], where Moscow has made the most inroads. That's put them in Russian hands, along with significant amounts of other valuable energy and mineral deposits used for everything from aircraft parts to smartphones, according to an analysis for The Washington Post by the Canadian geopolitical risk firm SecDev.

Reactors? Which reactors??

Russia possesses VAST amounts of natural resources. But DENYING Ukraine its own has strategically undermined the country's economy, FORCING Kyiv to IMPORT COAL to keep the lights on in cities and towns. Should the Kremlin succeed in annexing the Ukrainian territory it has seized -- as U.S. officials believe it will try to do in coming months -- Kyiv would permanently LOSE ACCESS to almost two-thirds of its deposits....

Bloomberg | Ukraine Cut to Default by S&P[, Fitch] After [G7, Paris Club, IMF] Creditors OK Debt-Payment Delay, 12 Aug VICTORY!

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Ukraine is rated Caa3 by Moody's Investors Service.

Separately, Ukraine's road agency Ukravtodor and power grid NPC Ukrenergoon Wednesday also received approvals from their bondholders for similar debt restructuring deals.